Connection Design
Delegated connection design in IDEA StatiCa to Eurocode 3 — design and detailing under one roof, with full calculation reports and £2m PI behind every connection.
OD3 provides delegated steel connection design to Eurocode 3 (EN 1993), modelled and checked in IDEA StatiCa, with full design and calculation reports issued for every connection. The work is carried by £2,000,000 of professional indemnity insurance, so the responsibility split is clean: you send us the member forces, we return designed, checked and documented connections you can fabricate against.
Design and detailing under one roof
Most fabricators run connection design and steel detailing as two separate supply chains, then spend programme time reconciling them. We do both in the same practice. The connection that passes its checks in IDEA StatiCa is the connection that appears in the Tekla model and on the fabrication drawings — same geometry, same bolts, same welds. That means faster approval cycles, fewer RFIs between designer and detailer, and no dependence on a third-party connection designer who sits outside your programme.
What gets checked, and what you receive
Standard joints are designed to the SCI Green Book — Joints in Steel Construction: Simple Joints to Eurocode 3 — and detailed to National Structural Steelwork Specification (5th Edition) working practice. Where geometry or loading falls outside standard cases, connections are analysed in IDEA StatiCa with checks covering stress and strain, equivalent stress and deformation, stiffness, member capacity, buckling and joint resistance. Deliverables are the design itself plus a calculation report for each connection type, ready for submission to the engineer of record for approval.
Cloud-delivered across the UK and Ireland
Connection design is a cloud-delivered service: models, reports and approvals move through Trimble Connect, so it makes no difference whether your workshop is in Magherafelt or Manchester. We have been doing this work since 2012, for fabricators who come back job after job — and because connection design sits inside our wider digital thread, the same model that carries your designed connections can flow on into detailing, NC output, site setout and as-built verification without being rebuilt.
FAQs
- Who carries design responsibility for the connections?
- We do, for the connections themselves. Each connection is designed to Eurocode 3, issued with a full calculation report, and backed by our £2m professional indemnity insurance. The engineer of record retains responsibility for member design and the overall structure; we design to the forces and member sizes their design provides.
- What do you need from us to start?
- The engineer's design information — member sizes, connection forces or a load schedule, the structural GA drawings, and the specified execution class. If forces are incomplete we will flag the gaps before design starts rather than make assumptions. Everything is exchanged through Trimble Connect, so there is no courier-and-markup cycle.
- What software do you design in?
- IDEA StatiCa for connection analysis and design checks, with the connections modelled in Tekla Structures for detailing. Because both happen in-house, the checked design and the fabrication model never drift apart — what the calculation report describes is exactly what the workshop drawings show.
- Can you handle connections outside the Green Book standard cases?
- Yes. Standard simple joints are designed to the SCI Green Book, and non-standard geometry or loading is analysed in IDEA StatiCa, with checks for stress and strain, equivalent stress and deformation, stiffness, member capacity, buckling and joint resistance. You receive a calculation report either way.
- Do you work with fabricators outside Northern Ireland?
- Yes — connection design is delivered remotely across the UK and Ireland. Models, calculation reports and approval comments all move through the cloud via Trimble Connect, so location has no effect on programme. We have delivered contracts across the UK and Ireland since 2012.
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